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Amazon.com Rises to the Occasion!

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Gosh! This is pretty amazing.

Remember that I found the coveted ClosetMaid over-the-sink dish drainer at Amazon, for the bracing price of thirty bucks? Readers were abhorred and protested that the contraption was to be had elsewhere on the Web for significantly less. But then reader Karen found it, at Amazon, for $15!

Well. Truth to tell, I’d already ordered the thing at the inflated price before I wrote that post. My cookies frosted, I wrote to Amazon and groused. A living CSR actually responded by e-mail, amazingly enough. This person emitted some policy, superbly obfuscating and superbly obvious. I wrote back and remarked that I understood all that (“all that” basically came down to caveat emptor), but I still felt I’d been ripped off to the tune of about fifteen bucks.

To my astonishment, this afternoon along comes an e-mail from Amazon reporting that they’ve credited my account for $15!!!

The thing showed up in the mail today, along with the stylish Le Creuset tea kettle I ordered at about the same time.

How cool is that?

Green LC teakettle

God’s Car Wash…and Wash…and Wash

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It’s still raining.

And the Cheapskate’s Car Wash…uhm…that’s not to say God is a cheapskate; only that a certain cheapskate takes advantage of Her largesse… Yes. The Cheapskate’s Car Wash has been running overtime.

Over the past some weeks and months, the Dog Chariot has managed to get itself pretty darned dirty, because I’m terribly lazy (and cheap) about taking it to the carwash. This past three days of rainfall, though, have presented an Opportunity.

So much rain has fallen so steadily and yet so gently that it’s washed away all the mud (and frost-killed leaves). Late on the storm’s first day I parked the car on the driveway for an hour and then pulled it into the garage and wiped it down with microfiber rags.

Yesterday I spent most of the day gadding around the far west side with KJG; on the way home I was caught in some more rain, but surprisingly the road mud was rinsed off the car’s sides by the time I arrived in the garage. Wiped it down again. Looked great this morning.

Made a little junket to the Apple store this afternoon. The clouds seemed to be clearing ahead of a brisk breeze. I didn’t think it would rain again, but darned it wasn’t pouring by the time I wandered out of the mall.

Wash. Wipe. Dry. 🙂

I really prefer to wash the car myself, because I think I do a better job than the $20 car wash guys. The last time I took the car over there, they didn’t get it very clean. A shop vac, a few rags, and a hose sprayer attachment to wash off the wheels seem to do the job a lot better. A certain amount of work is required, though; since I have an allergy to work, it’s a rare day that I willingly drag the hose out to the driveway and spray treated city water all over the vehicle. The free rainwater helps a lot in the motivation department.

The car now is very, very clean. Chuck the Mechanic Par Excellence will be amazed when he gets it on Thursday for an oil change and minor repair. I don’t think he’s ever seen that car clean before…

Video Conferencing for Small Businesses

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Cheaper

 

Communication can be expensive, especially for small businesses that need to make a big effort to get in touch with clients in order to secure potentially lucrative contracts. Also, it can be complicated, as there’s no knowing whether a phone call, a flying visit or an e-mail is the best method to contact customers, investors or remote workers. However, a number of free and low-cost teleconferencing programs can make life a great deal easier.

In the U.S., Skype offers free video conferencing for anyone with a webcam or a compatible smartphone. This service is free as long as the parties you’re calling also subscribe to Skype, but calls to landlines or phones outside the Skype  network incur a charge. OoVoo provides a free video chat service. Like Skype, its free version will blitz you with ads, hardly desirable in a business setting; to avoid ads with these services, you’ll have to purchase a “premium” plan.

In the UK, a telecommunications company called Powwownow provides video conferencing at a very low cost. It has the potential to trump all those forms of communication in terms of saving time, money and making it easier to get in touch with those important clients. Interestingly, Powwownow offers not two but three levels of service: one that’s free but allows relatively small groups to conference; a pay-as-you-go plan that  provides UK and worldwide telephone numbers, and a premium version that allows up to 1,000 participants per call.

The benefits for small businesses are significant, and of course they’re multiplied many times over for larger companies that do business across state lines or overseas.

Save money: conference calling represents great value for money, as it’s very cheap to do. Going to meetings outside the office can be very expensive, especially if you’re paying for fuel or tickets to get to your destination. However, by arranging a conference call instead, you can have a meeting using the necessary software instead of spending hundreds on a business trip which might bear no fruit whatsoever. It can also save you from making expensive phone calls and enable some of your employees to work from home and contact you by conference calling.

Save time: as well as being expensive, travelling miles from your office to that of one of your clients can take up a lot of time which could be better spent doing work in the office. Arranging a conference call only takes a few minutes to do, and it can be ended in a flash too. It can also save time if you want to arrange a staff meeting, as every one of your employees who as conference calling capabilities can be invited.

Easy to use: conference calling is surprisingly easy to use. All you need to do is download some conference calling software and invite those you wish to speak to into your call and you’re away. It can make collaboration easy too, plus it allows you to make face-to-face contact with whoever you’re speaking to if you want to get a point across.

Confidence Rising among Smaller Businesses

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Cheaper

A survey conducted among small businesses in Scotland has revealed that amid the persistent economic gloom that is afflicting the UK’s economy, confidence among small businesses has risen. The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) said that confidence for the fourth quarter of 2012 was higher than at the same point in 2010 and 2011.

The FSB also found that businesses were better placed to invest  now than in the recent past , with many firms who took part in the survey confirming they were planning to put some money into areas such as technology, expansion and even recruitment. However, there were a few concerns expressed by some of the companies who agreed to participate in the research.

Confidence levels rose despite the fact that many smaller firms in Scotland had to contend with the double whammy of having to spend more on fuel and utility bills. The cost of both have risen significantly of late, with many energy suppliers raising prices by several percentage points in the past few months.

In a statement, the FSB’s Andy Willox said:

“When fuel and utilities get pricier, it’s harder for small firms just to break even, let alone make a profit. To do just that, they have to work harder than ever especially with consumer demand remaining low. Hopefully something will be done about fuel and utility costs in the near future.”

Something small businesses could do about trying to cut the amount they spend on utilities is comparing business gas & electricity with Make It Cheaper online. It can help businesses to find a better, cheaper deal with different supplier than the one they’re currently getting.

Despite the concern over the rising cost of running a small firm in Scotland, the FSB also found that investments made could rise in 2013. Mr Willox believes that the UK economy could benefit significantly through increased spending by small businesses, but also said that lenders should play their part.

“If small firms invest more money, then that capital could go towards other businesses, which could help to engineer economic growth. However, lenders should do their bit by helping out companies who seek opportunities for exploring new markets by taking a calculated risk or two”, he said.

Confidence among small businesses in Scotland may be higher than before, but the FSB say it’s still lower than in other parts of the UK. Smaller enterprises in Scotland may be finding it tougher than their English and Welsh counterparts.

Live-Blogging from inside a Raincloud

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When my mother was a young California girl, she and her friends used to joke that only San Franciscans could tell the difference between low clouds and high fog.

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Whaddaya think? High fog? Low clouds?

Water has been falling out of the sky since the middle of last night. It’s evening and rain is still sprinkling down. When Cassie and I went out for a short walk during a brief break, herds of fat, pregnant-looking clouds were practically kissing the ground, they were so low. Before we got back to the house the misty air was coalescing into a fine, powdery rain, dappling the puddles with tiny wave rings.

Speaking of San Francisco, the home of high fog and A Gai Shan Life, Revanche has thrown over the Rx traces and is steadily making progress on her health self-help plan.

At I Pick Up Pennies, Abigail wants to do something extra-special for Tim this Valentine’s Day, after the difficult year they’ve had. Ideas are invited!

Donna Friedman reflects eloquently on Abigail’s recent loss of a third pregnancy, grief, and the fragility of life.

There’s a really cute anecdote at Blue-Collar Workman, contributed by a guest author.

After taking on a new house with all its attendant increased expenses, Evan takes yet another plunge on his Journey to Millions: starts an investment club.

101 Centavos has been visiting Korea in the dead of winter — nice timing, that. Along the way he takes time for a rant on annoying food labels engineered by machinating special interests.

Frugal Scholar sings a paean to the world’s greatest organizing tool.

Noticed any change in food prices lately? Money Beagle sure has — especially where fresh veggies are concerned.

Brip-Blap has a nice rumination on what makes a great job.

Along the same lines, eemusings reflects on whether one really can expect to love one’s job.

Mrs. PoP publishes a new “He Said – She Said” conundrum at Planting our Pennies. Very interesting.

At The Frugal Girl, Kristen hits a nerve with her readers when she considers how to tell when one has too much stuff.

Free Money Finance addresses the question of how much umbrella insurance one needs, and why.

Budgeting in the Fun Stuff runs a nice profile of Julie, proprietor of Canadian blog Freedom 48.

And Julie holds forth on one of my favorite hobby-horses, the cost of owning a pet.

Who would think something so obvious as protecting yourself from the flu would be controversial? At Bargaineering, Jim stirs up some hornets with an innocent question.

So it goes in the blogosphere, Saturday, January 26, 2013.

Grocery-store Gasoline Discounts: Deal or No Deal?

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At  Planting Our Pennies, Mrs. PoP reflects on grocery-store offers of gasoline discounts that grocery stores sometimes offer regular customers. Ultimately she concludes that these programs are hardly worth the effort.

Here in lovely uptown Phoenix, Safeway stores offer a gasoline discount after you’ve racked up some crazy number of dollars on purchased registered with the annoying red card. So every once in a while, they’ll offer my deceased dog (in whose name the card is made out) cents off on gas.

Problem: the nearest Safeway with gas pumps is way to hell and gone up on the north side! Safeway has reserved its shiniest new stores, the ones that sport gas stations, for the White Flight set. So Safeway gas stations exist only in areas close to the upper-middle-class tracts where the white folks have moved. And those areas are way, way off my beaten track. By the time I got all the way up there and back, I would have spent more on wasted gasoline than I would have saved on the gas buy.

And besides…better strategies exist.  IMHO the Costco AMEX card is about the best of those.  You get 3% back on gasoline (which is usually pretty cheap at Costco to begin with), 2% back at U.S. restaurants, 2% back on travel purchases, and 1% back on everything else. Once a year you get a lump-sum  cash back “reward” — a kickback on purchases made during the year.

There’s a Costco on every corner in this city, so it seems. Costco underprices stations in the immediate vicinity of its stores. Gasoline prices vary wildly by the part of town you’re in: in upscale Scottsdale you can pay ten to thirty cents a gallon more than other parts of town. In the westside slums, you’ll pay ten cents a gallon less than you’ll pay in the more or less middle-class tracts in the central areas or the far west.

One Costco, which is on my way to many destinations, straddles an aging middle-class district and a downscale high-density area that feathers into the gang-infested tracts bordering the I-17. That thing ALWAYS has the lowest prices around. I try to time gas purchases to days when I know I have to drive down in that direction. The gas is cheaper in the first place, and then I get a 3% kickback on it.

So ultimately, by purchasing gas at Costco regularly — even if I happen to be at one of the higher-priced outlets — I end up saving a lot more than I would if I traipsed up to North Phoenix for the privilege of collecting “bargain” gas from Safeway.

In the gasoline department, BTW: man, quitting the hateful teaching gig sure is saving on the gas! In the last month I taught, the four-day-a-week commute racked up an astonishing $230 in gasoline bills. In the first full month of freedom: just $80.

Just think of all the things I can diddle away that $150 savings on! 😀